The present invention relates to a device for moving transverse beams for transporting workpieces to be galvanized along support rails by a moving device that is comprised of a plurality of transport carriages. The transverse beams are connected to the transport carriages by a lifting device for lifting and lowering the transverse beams and move the workpieces transported thereby into or out of the zinc bath. The workpieces to galvanized are transported in the longitudinal direction of the support rails.
When individual workpieces are to be galvanized, it is necessary, before lowering the work pieces into the zinc bath, to remove contaminants such as cinder remains etc. from the surface of the zinc bath in order to ensure proper galvanization of the workpieces within the zinc bath. In hot galvanizing devices of the prior art the cleaning of the zinc bath surface is performed manually by a rake that is guided by one or two persons along the surface the zinc bath to thereby remove the contaminants. In addition to the work-intensive cleaning operation by the operating personnel of the galvanizing device, in this known cleaning process of the zinc bath surface it is disadvantageous that the transporting device during cleaning of the zinc bath surface by the operating personnel must be shut down so that even for continuously operating devices interruptions are unavoidable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody a device of the aforementioned kind such that downtimes for cleaning the surface of the zinc bath are prevented and the zinc bath surface is automatically cleaned during transport of the transverse beams above the zinc bath without requiring operating personnel.